and debbie dingell, vice-chair of al gore's campaign in michigan in 2000. debbie, let's start with you. john boehner, speaker of the house, came out the day after the election and said okay we'll put revenues on the table. we will raise taxes but want to do it by limiting deductions. we don't want to raise rates. no real response on that from the president's team. isn't that kind of an olive branch? >> look, i think that democrats and republicans at a senior level understand we can knot go over the fiscal cliff. i think there's a lot of positioning, a lot of posturing. quite frankly sunday talk shows may have even made me a little edgy but as a watcher of washington for a long time we have got leaders that though we can't go over the fiscal cliff and they have to get in a room and start talking. jon: as a watcher of washington, debbie, you've been telling spouses of medical members of congress, don't buy a turkey for instance. >> well, they can buy a ushg it can i but i warned them for weeks do not expect to see your spouses until christmas. i am one who th